William henry beaim



No. 751,254. P'ATBNTED FBB.'2,'19o4-. .w. H. BRAIM.

RAILWAY SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 25. 1963.

NO MODEL.

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PAINTED P1213 3; 1904'.

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UNITED STATES Patented February 2, 190 4.

PATENT OFFICE- RAILWAY-SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 751,254, dated February 2, 19Q4.

Application filed May 2 5-, 1903. Serial No. 158,753. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern: Be it known thatI, WILLIAM HENRY BRAIM, a citizen'of the Dominion of Canada, residing at the city of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, Canada, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railway- Switches, of which the following is a specification. 1

The object of this invention is to provide means whereby the switch-blade of a streetrailway junction may be .operated from the platform of an approaching car bythe motorman without the necessity of his leaving his position, and my effort has been to provide a mechanism that shall be simple and direct in its action, that shall form no obstruction to the ordinary street trafiic, that shall be readily applicable to existing plants, and that shall not be liable to derangement in use. I have further endeavored to avoid the necessity for the operative mechanism being any considerable distance from the switch. The particular construction by which these advantages are attained is fully set forth in the following specification and illustrated in the drawings which accompany it.

Figure 1 is a plan of the switch-blade having my attachment; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section on the line a a, in Fig. 1;.Fig. 3, a plan, to an enlarged scale, of the L-lever and its connection to the switch-blade; Fig. 4:, a similar 7 View of the spring designed to hold theblade in either position for main line or branch; Fig. 5, a vertical section through the box inclosing the L-lever, showingthe lever, &c.,'in elevation. Figs. 6 and7 are longitudinal vertical sections through the mechanism by'which the L-lever is actuated for either the branch or the main line; Fig. 8, a cross-section on the line b b in Fig. 7; Fig. 9, a detail of the connection of the branch and main line mechanisms, so as to, be cooperative one with the other; and Fig-10, a cross-section on the line 0 c in Fig. 6.

Throughout the drawings the rail is inclicated by R, the ties by T, and the switchblade byS.

The switch-blade S is connected by a rod 2 and link 3 to the short arm 4: of an L-lever pivotally mounted on a pin 5, secured in the bottom of a box or casing 6, which incloses the lever and its attachments, and is fastened to the ties or road-bed in any suitable manner and to the rail R by a stay 7, the box being. 6

provided with a removable cover 8 at the approximate level of the surface of the road. To the long arm 9 of the L-lever is connected the rod 10 from the car-operated mechanism to move the switch-blade one way or the other, as required, and to the pin 11 ofthis connection isattachedone end of a tension -spring 12, the other endof which is connected by a link 13, curved to pass round the boss of the L-lever, to a pin 14: immediately behind the axis of rotation of the L-lever and in the center line of its oscillation. The effect of this spring is to retain the L-lever and its connected parts in either extreme of its movement, as clearly shown in Fig. 4:.

The rod 10, by which the movement of the L-lever and switch iseffected, extends a convenient, distance along the track parallel to the rail, and at its farthest end is threaded to receive a member 15, slidable in a guide 16 and having a portion 15 projecting upward through a longitudinal slot 17 of the guide.

This upwardly-projecting member 15 is shaped to ofiier engagement toward the appliance operated from the car-platform by which it is designed to be moved and which-will be described later. A- short distance farther along the track from the point of the-switch: blade is a guide-frame 18, similar to 17 and provided with a slot 19, buthaving in addition at its farther. end depending portions 20, between which is mounted a sheave 21. The slidable member 22 of this guide has secured to it a wire rope 23, which passes forward round the sheave 21 and returning is secured thebend of the U and is secured by a knot in a washer 28. The connection thus made is rotatable asa swivel when adjustment is re" quired. The connection between the two slidable members 15 and 22 is so adjusted that as one is at one end of its slot the other is at the opposite end of the other slot, and they are cooperative together, so that when 15 pushes the rod and. by means of the L- lever 9, 4 sets the switch-blade S into position for the branch it also by means of the wirerope connection over the sheave 21 pulls the slidable member 22 toward the direction of approach. Conversely, when 22, being at the end of approach of a car toward the junction,as indicated by the arrow f, is moved along the slot the rod 10 and its attached and connected parts are pulled back and the switch-blade set for the straight track. The upward projections 22 of the slidable members are engaged and operated by the lower end of a pivotally-mounted lever 30 on the car-platform 31, which may be lowered by the motorman by means of the handle 32, forming an upward extension of the lever 30. The end 3O being widened to insure engagement will catch 15 or 22*, as desired, and will as the car moves forward pull with it the slidable member and its connected mechanism to operate the switchblade one way or the other, according to which member is engaged, and when the slidable member approaches the end of the slot or limit of its movement toward the switch 30 is pushed off its engagement by the raised portion or incline on the upper surface of each guide member. A smooth track 36 is provided for the trailing end 30 at the approach to and between the guide-frames, and to further insure smooth and steady action I may provide the end of 30 with a light wheel or roller. The catch-lever 30 may be retained clear of the track and and out of action by a spring 33, or a catch may be furnished to hold the lever 32 in the out-of-action position.

The rod 10 is protected by a pipe 37 through which it is passed and which extends between and rests on suitable supports on the L-lever box and the proximate guide-frame.

The device is shown as secured to timbers 38, resting on the ties T of the track, which will afford a firm and inexpensive means of fixing it.

The operation of the mechanism hardly requires explanation further. As a car approaches the junction the motorneer lowers the lever 30 30 to engage either 15 or 22, as he requires, to take the junction or proceed on the straight track, and the slidable block engaged is moved along its slot to effect the desired movement, being automatically disengaged at the limit of its movement by the raised portion 35 at the end of the slot, and the switch-blade is retained in the position it is moved to and recoil prevented by the spring 12 in the lever-box.

The L-lever may be made with the additional short arm, as indicated by dot-and-dash lines in Figs. 1, 3, and 5, so that one pattern may serve for either right or left hand 5 branches.

The device is extremely simple in its manufacture, its application, and its working, and there is no part exposed to undue wear or liable to derangement, while the threaded connections to the rod 10 afford every facility for independent adjustment. The extended movement of the operative slidable members 15 and 22 and the considerable ratio of the levers 9 and 4:, through which that movement is communicated to the switch-blade, make the effort necessary to throw the switch extremely light. Efiicient drainage being provided, no difliculty will be experienced with silt or dirt, as the only place where such might be troublesomeviz., in the grooves of the guide,is swept clear by the slidable members at every movement of the switch.

I do not desire to be confined to the particular construction of the parts or means of connecting the same, as such may be somewhat modified to suit the requirements of manufacture; but

What I claim as new, and desire to be protected in by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a device of the class described; two guide-frames situated a short distance apart in the line of approach to the switch, blocks slidable endwise in such guides and having portions upwardly projecting through elongated slots in the upper sides of the guideways such upward projections being designed to be engaged by suitable members depending from the car-platform,means for connecting the two slidable blocks so as to be oppositely movable in relation to each other, and means for connecting the blocks to the switch so that the forward movement of one block operates the switch for the main line and the other for the branch, substantially as described.

2. In a device of the class described having a pivotally-mounted L-lever by which the switch-blade is operated; a means to retain the mechanism in either extreme position comprising a tension-spring one end of which is connected toward the end of one of the levers of the L and the other end to a position on the opposite side of the pivot-pin of the L- lever and in the center line of the levers oscillation.

3. In a switch-operating mechanism; a pivotally-mounted L-lever having a tensionspring to retain it in either extreme of its movement, a link connection from one arm of the L to the switch-blade, a rod connected to the other arm and extending along the track, a block adjustably secured to the rod and slidable in a guide and having a portion projecting above the road-surface through an elongated slot in the upper side of the guide, a

raised portion on the upper surface of the guideway at the end of the slot toward the switch, a second slidable block and guide- In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of twosub scribing Witnesses, v V V WILLIAM HENRY BRAIM. In presence of ROLAND BRITTAIN, JOHN H. HUNTER. 

